Quest of the Dragonslayer Sword
by just-taye
Summary: Everyone's gleeful in Magnolia - even frienemies Gray and Natsu. Days go by until a certain guild that affected their past returns, and so does the person they thought disappeared. Now, the old trio must find the legendary sword to end the guild forever.


**Quest of the Dragonslayer Sword**

_A Fairy Tail Fanfic_

Natsu, Happy, Gray, Jellal, and Erza along with a few others are beginning to live the life—Lucy, Lisanna, and Juvia are away for the holidays, Loke is free from his Celestial Mage, and Master Makarov is drunk with eggnog. Everyone's in a blissful state, and to top it all off, one of the most favorite holidays is only two weeks away. At this point, nothing can go wrong… But when an old friend of Gray's and Natsu's returns, will the "pretty much" friends go back to how they used to be, or will the hatred towards each other go too far…even to the death?

_XxX_

**Quest of the Dragonslayer Sword**

1 – The Unusual

In the country of Fiore, the people of Magnolia gathered around for the most wonderful time of the year—Christmas. Children beamed and were full of laughter as they played in the winter snow, school almost over for winter break. Smart adults went out and bought their friends and families' their presents, while the not-so-smart adults lounged on their sofas until the last minute arrived. And teens…well…they're just waiting for their gifts.

Except for a few.

Those few were known throughout Fiore—Jellal; Gray; Erza; Loke; Gajeel; Happy; Pantherlily; Lyon; Levy; Fried; and Natsu. They were a part of a guild called Fairy Tail, a guild where everyone was family and had each other's backs, no matter what. The guild, that was one of the worst in Magnolia, was now one of the strongest guilds in the country. Unfortunately, they were also the most destructive.

Though gifts were great things to give and receive, the adolescents didn't look forward to them as much as others. What really had their eyes set were the massive number of jobs posted on the board. Mages were mainly looking for a job that paid well, but with it being the holidays and all, most of the jobs given were either to buy presents or go out caroling for less than 100 coins. People in Fiore were desperate when it came to Christmas, so desperate that no one in Fairy Tail bothered to go do a job for them.

"Hey, Gray. You've given up?"

"Yeah, man. You're taking quite a long time…"

"Shut up, Cana, Loke! I would never quit against you. And, Loke, wait your turn!"

"I've been waiting for five minutes…"

"Me? An alcoholic? Ha! Just because I can hold more drinks than you can, doesn't make me an alcoholic. You're just weak!"

"Put your insults where your mouth is, Cana-bal."

In the guildhall, Gray, Loke, and Cana were playing cards. As their determined and cocky faces were clearly shown, they examined their cards cautiously to plan out their wins. You could see the beads of sweat formed on Cana and Gray's foreheads, watching each other for clues of any kind. But the two players' real problem was their other opponent, the leader of the zodiac signs, the astrological playboy, Loke the Lion.

Finally giving up on the tough decision, Gray groaned. "Fine. Loke, do you have a…an eight?" Watching the sunglasses-wearing man with slight fear, the ice mage clutched onto his black tee, slowly beginning to snarl.

Checking his four cards that were in his hand, Loke frowned, looked up at Gray, and lowered his shade until they almost slid off of his nose. The frown made Gray beam in victory and Cana gulp down a pint.

Taking a small sigh, Loke's frown deepened. "Go fish."

Dropping his grin, Gray leaned back in his seat too far and fell on his back. Cana burst out laughing, holding on to Loke's shoulder so she wouldn't fall herself. Loke cracked a tiny sly smirk, pushing his shades back properly on his nose.

Steaming, Gray stood up and leaned over the table, slamming his hands down on it. Smoke emitted from his ears as he yelled, "You cannot be serious!"

Loke stood up as well. "It's _Go Fish_, Gray. You kind of have to be."

"That's BS!"

"No, that game is when you lie if you don't have the card number. We are playing Go Fish."

"Ugh!" Gray shoved himself away from the table, trying to calm down. He returned to Loke shirtless. "You're a cheater!"

Loke blinked, a little taken aback. "Am not."

"Sure, because you, the celestial spirit, are not a cheater. You could have been using your stupid little horoscopic tricks on us!" He pointed to himself and Cana who was observing the whole thing, not wanting to say a word.

Two tables over, Levy, Gajeel, and Pantherlily sat eating food and reading. Lifting her head up, Levy took off her glasses. "You guys, knock it off! There's no point in fighting over a stupid little game."

"Yes there is!" Gray growled. Levy rolled her eyes and returned to her book, not wanting to progress the fight.

Loke sighed as he shook his head, disappointed at the ice mage's sudden immaturity. "What's going on? You normally don't care about losing or winning." Gray sighed, averting his eyes.

"It's nothing." He then looked at Cana, who was flicking at her own cards, and narrowed his eyes at her.

The eighteen year-old caught him staring at her. "What, Fullbuster?" she huffed.

"You," Gray raised his hand and pointed at her. His voice shook in anger. "You cheated. W-with your hexes! You're a cheater!" Mirajane, who had just walked over to the three, gasped, putting her hand to her mouth in shock.

Cana's eyebrows arched and teeth grinded. She stood up. "Now, wait a minute. I am no cheater. I actually play fair. My cards can affect the game if I wanted them to, but I never use them or my magic to my advantage!" Gray pressed his lips together, doubting the mage's words.

"How can I believe yo-"

"Knock it off!" Gajeel ordered, making everybody in the guildhall silent. All eyes were on the iron dragonslayer as he folded his tattooed arms and raised an eyebrow at Gray. Then he cleared his throat.

"Gray, you're not…yourself. You're acting like Natsu. And that's a major problem." Levy moved next to Gajeel and rested her head on his non-spikey shoulder, supporting as well as worrying about his accusations. Pantherlily nodded in agreement, his face adorable yet serious. The word "problem" formed above Gray's head, signifying the truth.

Gray opened his mouth to retaliate, but didn't. As much as he didn't want to admit, Gajeel was right. He was acting a lot like the fire dragonslayer. The attitude; the actions; the accusations. They were all something only Natsu Dragneel would do, not Gray Fullbuster. As calm, relaxed and not caring Gray could be; his actions and feelings are highly different and unusual. Everyone was noticing his abnormal behavior. He had to force himself to act like himself. Gray didn't want anyone to know why he was acting like this—that caused him to act like this.

Instead of retaliating, Gray smiled. "You're…you're right, Gajeel. I'm not myself this morning. Had a rough night. I couldn't sleep at all." Cana, Loke, Mirajane, and Levy reluctantly nodded in understanding.

Mirajane pouted. "What'd you do last night that made you this way?"

Gray closed his eyes. That was the exact question he _did not _want to answer. She was trying to get into his head, trying to figure out his problem and how to solve it. He didn't want that. He wanted to keep the memories he had of her—to remind himself of the great times they had together when they were little and she was around.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Gray shrugged, lying through his teeth. "Drank something cheap." Cana nodded greatly, deliberate of that kind of situation. "Besides, I've already tried all of the hangover remedies. They don't-"

Everyone's eyes were set on the entrance, Gray's attention slower. When Gray glanced behind him, his eyes widened. There, in the doorway, stood an unhappy Erza holding a gruesomely wounded and unconscious Natsu. Mirajane and Levy hastily left to set up a healing bed while Loke and Gajeel took hold of Natsu and laid him on a table. Then Cana ran to the back to grab smelling salts and the first-aid kit.

During the whole process Gray was frozen where he stood, his mind blank except for one question: _What happened to Natsu_? That question was answered when Erza walked over and stood next to him.

"Lost Clawbeak is here."

2 – Lost Clawbeak

Loke's eyebrows rose, overhearing Erza's words. "Lost Clawbeak? What's that?" Gray and Erza looked at him solemnly.

"A guild," she answered, dusting herself off. Gray suddenly stared at the ground, rubbing his wrists in fret. Loke watched him peculiarly, knowing something was bothering him.

Erza continued. "It's not an ordinary guild, Loke. It's, to this point, the only *undefeatable former dark guild in Fiore."

"They're not a dark guild," Gray mentioned. "They're worse." The scarlet-haired girl nodded in agreement.

"Clawbeak was formed generations ago here, in Magnolia. It, back then, was the youngest dark guild that made the chart of the strongest dark guilds in the world, and if it didn't become a former guild, it would have been the fourth youngest. A woman named Halite created Clawbeak when she was banned from Blue Pegasus for killing one of the guild members. She thought the punishment wasn't fair, so she decided to seek out for revenge.

"It was years later when the guild had fifty members, all wanting revenge on someone or something. They used their magic for evil, it slowly turning into dark magic. That made Clawbeak stronger—strong enough to be undefeated.

"Recently, like…"

"A decade ago. _Exactly_ a decade ago." Gray responded, his grip on his own wrist tightening.

Erza glanced at him and nodded cautiously, not wanting to strike his nerve. "Yes…Ten years ago, Halite's great-great-great grandson, Caden, became the new leader of Clawbeak, only at eight years old. His heart, despite his young age then, was the darkest anyone had ever encountered. As he grew older, his heart became even darker, it being at its darkest when he turned twelve."

Erza held her head. "But I'm leaving out so much information. There were…there were so many things that had happened…"

"It affected all of us." Gray murmured his eyes stinging. Lost Clawbeak was the only thing he blamed for losing his closest and most loving friend, and for almost killing his…somewhat…friend.

Loke frowned. This was his first of hearing about Lost Clawbeak. He knew they were a former guild, but how come he never knew about it? Running a hand through his flipped out hair, he asked, "Does everyone else know of the guild?"

This time Gray answered Loke's question. "Not everyone. Only Erza, Natsu, Happy, Jellal, and I know about Lost Clawbeak. And now, you know about them, too."

Loke knitted his eyebrows. Only those few know? What about Makarov? What about Lucy? Did she know? "How far does this situation go?"

"Back." Erza smiled sadly. "Way back." She gave Gray a look. She didn't explain any further because she knew it wasn't in her place to tell Loke about how everything began. But she wanted to—she _needed_ to. Telling by the way Gray was behaving; Erza knew _something_ must have happened before she showed up carrying Natsu, but she didn't bother asking what he did.

A couple years ago, Gray was an emotional wreck—crying; yelling; screaming; throwing tantrums. No one spoke to him, they too afraid to make him more upset than he already was. He refused to fight, talk, and even eat at one point. That was when Natsu had enough and helped Gray through his phase. It was appropriate during the situation, however. Natsu was affected by the situation as well, but was handling it well in public. Unlike Gray.

Gray flashed Erza a hard look, shaking his head right after.


End file.
